Bahamians Must Vote in the Next General Election for the Next Generation

by Sir Arthur Foulkes

Prime Minister Perry Christie has announced that the current register of voters will come to an end on March 12. No doubt this will serve as an incentive for those Bahamians who have not yet done so to register for the next general election only a few months away.

In every run-up to general elections there are those who inevitably predict that the slow pace of registration of voters is an indication that Bahamians are either fed up with the system or with the political parties or have simply become apathetic.

Every time they are proven wrong, but that does not deter them from making much the same prediction again. Perhaps the idea is that Bahamians are bound to get fed up with their democracy at some point and refuse to vote. Then the negative pundits will at last be proven right.

Just before the 1997 general election one of them came to the conclusion that Bahamians had become fed up with both political parties and that 1997 would be “the year of the independents”.

But Bahamians did register – some of them late, as is their wont – and turned out in droves to vote. The result was that the FNM, which had governed extraordinarily well, was returned with an overwhelming majority (34-6) and not a single independent was elected.

Bahamians have always been a highly politicized people and there was a passionate desire to be involved even in the days before universal adult suffrage. In terms of voter turnout we have one of the best records in the world except for totalitarian states and democracies where voting is mandatory.

As a matter of fact, our voting record is better than that of the three great English-speaking western democracies. In the United States only 64% of qualified citizens voted in the 2004 presidential election and in Britain the turnout is usually just above 70%. The Canadians used to be in that neighbourhood and even higher but they are now worried that their turnout is declining; it was only 60.5% in the 2004 election.

By contrast, the turnout of voters in The Bahamas in 1997 was almost 93% and in 2002 it was just over 90%. A set of special circumstances in 2002 did produce an unusually high complement of independents but that is not likely to occur again.

All that being said, it is nevertheless important that the nation’s leadership at all levels – political, religious and academic as well as those who help to mould public opinion – should continue to educate younger generations especially and to agitate for even greater involvement in the political process.

There is a danger that we can become too smug, selfish and apathetic and take our good fortune for granted as so many Americans seem to do. There is also a danger that the lessons of our history will be lost and that the high points of our struggle for democracy will fade in the national memory.

Some older persons never understood and apparently will never understand why it is so important that each and every one of us should participate in this grand exercise of democracy at every opportunity. Fortunately, they constitute a small minority.

What is distressing today is to hear some educated young Bahamians giving excuses for their failure to participate in the process, for refusing to register and vote.

They say it makes no difference because nothing changes anyway or that one vote does not make a difference or that they see no benefit coming to them from voting or that all politicians are self-seeking.

Fortunately, they too are in the minority as many other young people do participate and some register as soon as they are qualified. They are a credit to their parents, their teachers and the community. So what makes the difference?

Are the disenchanted ones victims of indifferent parents and unenlightened teachers? Or a culture that seems to them too wrapped up in selfish pursuits? Or do they take their cue from the ivory tower dwellers who like to pontificate that the political arena is populated by lesser mortals? Or is it that they are simply asking for attention?

To begin with, the excuses do not hold water. The idea of democracy is always under attack: some say it is inefficient, wasteful, slow, sometimes corrupt and often exasperating. All of which may be true; but wiser heads have also pointed out that a better system has yet to be invented.

Profound changes can be achieved through democratic political processes and this has been demonstrated all over the world as well as in our own little country.

The availability of expanding educational opportunities in The Bahamas over the last 40 years has been just one positive result of political action.

The system can sometimes take on unwelcome accretions but it also has self-correcting mechanisms including public debate, the law and the ballot. The system can be exploited by rascals but there are remedies for that as well.

That is why people who are not so fortunate as to have a long tradition of democracy will walk miles and even risk life and limb at the first opportunity to cast their ballots.

They know that it is easier to get rid of a would-be dictator in the democratic system than to get rid of an entrenched dictator in a totalitarian state.

But beyond the multitude of particular changes that can be made through the democratic process is the preservation of the system itself.

When a voter goes to the polls he is not just voting for a particular party, or candidate, or policy, as important as they are; he is also simply but powerfully laying claim to all his privileges; he is affirming his rights as a citizen, and renewing the democratic contract with his fellow citizens.

Another good reason why enlightened citizens of all ages and all social and economic backgrounds go to the polls to vote is that they understand that they are part of a community and responsible for the community. Some people of very humble background and limited exposure understand this, so it is perplexing that some with high education and wide exposure do not.

Each one of us has responsibility not just for himself but to the entire community. That may be a difficult concept for some people to absorb in these days of rampant individualism and frenetic self-seeking. They scoff at the idea that real nobility is about contributing more than you receive from the common wealth.

Our responsibility for the common good also transcends our own generation and our own time. Just as we who live today benefit from the sacrifices and labour of our ancestors, imperfect though they were, so we too have a responsibility to leave a legacy for those we will never know.

That is why an old man in a remote part of Africa limps to the polls on a crude crutch. He may be dead the next day but he has done his duty to the next generation.

He is educated. He is responsible. He is enlightened.

He has a sense of history and a sense of the future, a belief in the oneness of all humankind and all generations.

He has paid his debt to his ancestors and he has left a legacy for those who will proudly call him ancestor.

Comments

[Ian]

Will be supporting the PLP all the way!
LOVE you RT. Hon. Prime Minister Perry G. Christie.

Love all yinna Bahamians and the PLP party.

Rally the Troops, "CRUSH THE fnm (s)." (07)